This is additional information to our post on 27 July 2006 about
"Shorebird Breeding Success 2006 - Northern Canada". We just received
a report from shorebird expert Guy Morrison of the Canadian Wildlife
Service who was at Alert (approximately 85 degrees north latitude) on
Ellesmere Island, Nunavut Territory, for a couple of weeks in June.
Ellesmere Island is the most northerly island in Canada. Northeastern
Ellesmere is less than 50 km from Greenland. Guy reported that "some
shorebirds were nesting but it did not look as though Ruddy
Turnstones were having much success. The snow melt was rather late,
and the predators seemed pretty active, despite the fact that it
appeared to be a good lemming year. Reports from Alert since June say
that it has been a very cold, snowy summer." The two most common
shorebirds breeding on northern Ellesmere Island are the Red Knot and
Ruddy Turnstone. The Ellesmere populations of knots (nominate
subspecies canutus of some authorities or islandica of others) and
turnstones (nominate subspecies interpres) winter in the Old World,
flying over the Greenland Icecap with some stopping on Iceland. A
male Ruddy Turnstone on a breeding territory at Lake Hazen on
Ellesmere was banded in Iceland.

For shorebirders who will be in Ottawa, Ontario, on Saturday 30
September 2006, Guy Morrison is the banquet speaker on shorebirds at
the Annual Convention of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO). On
Saturday and Sunday, there will be field trips to favored locations
along the Ottawa River (e.g. Ottawa Beach and Shirley's Bay) and
nearby sewage lagoons that should see a good selection of shorebirds.
If you're interested in attending the OFO Convention, please reply
privately <[log in to unmask]>.

Good shorebirding,

Jean Iron & Ron Pittaway
Toronto & Minden, Ontario